Prosecutors move to block Con-Ui’s requests

The only one to blame for the murder of federal Correctional Officer Eric Williams is the unrepentant killer, Jessie Con-Ui, federal prosecutors argued in court papers filed Thursday.

Federal prosecutors said Con-Ui’s defense attorneys, in previous court filings requesting information, sought to claim lax federal Bureau of Prisons policies were responsible for the killing on Feb. 25, 2013 at United States Penitentiary at Canaan in Wayne County.

Con-Ui, an Arizona gang assassin already serving 25 years to life for a 2002 murder, is responsible for his actions, federal prosecutors said Thursday in a court filing that asks a judge to block Con-Ui’s request for additional pretrial discovery documents.

“Mr. Con-Ui’s attempts to blame the BOP for his murder of Officer Williams are untethered to any facts,” federal prosecutors said.

Federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Con-Ui, who is currently jailed at the nation’s super-maximum security prison in Florence, Colorado.

Con-Ui’s defense team has already been provided with 20,000 pages of relevant information and additional requests are “overbroad, irrelevant and immaterial,” federal prosecutors wrote. They added that Con-Ui, 37, never explains in his request how the information would mitigate his crime.

Defense attorneys for Con-Ui had claimed the evidence they sought “will show that BOP policies and negligence were substantial factors in the death of Correctional Officer Williams.” They cited a series of stories in The Citizens’ Voice about policies, cutbacks and lapses that left Williams, a 34-year-old Nanticoke native, susceptible to attack. They include the assignment of one officer to guard 100 or more inmates, the bureau’s reluctance to arm officers with pepper spray and the fact Con-Ui remained at large at Canaan and not in restricted housing despite a lengthy history of prison misconduct.

Following Williams’ murder, the Bureau of Prisons fast tracked a pilot program to arm officers with pepper spray and lawmakers continue to urge that more staffers have it for protection.

Thursday’s filing also reveals more details about the attack itself.

According to prosecutors, Con-Ui charged at Williams, knocked him down a staircase, then stabbed him more than 200 times and stomped his head. Williams was working alone in a unit housing about 130 inmates and was preparing to lock them into their cells for a nightly head-count when he was attacked. He was armed with only keys, handcuffs and a radio with a panic button.

Early in the attack, Con-Ui swiped Williams’ radio before he could summon help and then threw it across the cell block, prosecutors said. After killing Williams, Con-Ui returned to his cell, where he eventually was located, prosecutors said.

“I had to do what I had to do. It was a disrespect issue,” Con-Ui said while being led away from his cell, according to prosecutors.

Con-Ui was angered over a shakedown of his cell supposedly ordered by Williams a day earlier, prosecutors said.

Federal prosecutors said the evidence against Con-Ui is “overwhelming,” including eyewitness testimony, video of the killing, DNA evidence and his own admissions.

bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com 570-821-2055, @cvbobkal

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